the immortal life of henrietta lacks part 1

Visit Huntsman Cancer Institute’s Cancer Learning Center to learn how you can check out The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and find more resources about cancer.

It also considers the ethical dilemmas of using patient cells without knowledge or consent, the way race played a part in how Lacks was treated, and the impact on her family decades later. The book introduces us to the woman who helped change modern medicine. Previously, very few people knew the source of HeLa cells. The acclaimed nonfiction book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot tells Henrietta Lacks’s cancer story and the revolutionary research, ethical questions, and racism wrapped up in the use of her cells. HeLa enabled the development of in vitro fertilization, the first clone of a human cell, the development of the polio vaccine, advances in gene mapping, and more. Named after the first two letters of her first and last name, HeLa cells were used in many different medical experiments because they could be grown so easily in the lab. Gey grew the cells continuously in the lab, something that had never been done before. Because of a mutation, her cells were able to survive and reproduce outside the body. Lacks’s cells ended up in the lab of cell biologist Dr. The cells were taken without Lacks’s knowledge or consent. Her doctor took two biopsies, one of cancer cells and one of healthy cells. In 1951, a Black woman named Henrietta Lacks went to Johns Hopkins Hospital to have a doctor look at a “knot” in her womb, which turned out to be cervical cancer. Originally published April 2018 Updated February 2021

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Those cells led to breakthroughs in everything.

Make an Appointment Refer a Patient Find a Doctor Ask a Question When Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cancer in 1951, doctors took her cells and grew them in test tubes.

Think about the following questions as you read Part 1: What justifications did medical professionals use in order to take cells from their patients without their permission Do you think these justifications were legal Consider the consent form that Henrietta Lacks had to sign before her. Though those cells have done wonders for science, Henrietta-whose legacy involves the birth of bioethics and the grim history of experimentation on African-Americans-is all but forgotten. Read : Part 1 of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

But her cells are still among the most widely used in labs worldwide-bought and sold by the billions. Today, nearly 60 years after Henrietta's death, her body lies in an unmarked grave in Clover, Virginia. One scientist estimates that if you could pile all the HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they'd weigh more than 50 million metric tons-the equivalent of at least 100 Empire State Buildings. There's no way of knowing exactly how many of Henrietta's cells are alive today. Since 2001 alone, five Nobel Prizes have been awarded for research involving HeLa cells. They became the first immortal human cell line ever grown in culture and one of the most important tools in medicine: Research on HeLa was vital to the development of the polio vaccine, as well as drugs for treating herpes, leukemia, influenza, hemophilia, and Parkinson's disease it helped uncover the secrets of cancer and the effects of the atom bomb, and led to important advances like cloning, in vitro fertilization, and gene mapping. A scientist put that sample into a test tube, and, though Henrietta died eight months later, her cells-known worldwide as HeLa-are still alive today. He took a small tissue sample without her knowledge or consent.

In 1951, at the age of 30, Henrietta Lacks, the descendant of freed slaves, was diagnosed with cervical cancer-a strangely aggressive type, unlike any her doctor had ever seen. In an excerpt from her book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot tells her story. But today, Henrietta is all but forgotten.

Those cells led to breakthroughs in everything from Parkinson's to polio. They became the first immortal human cells. When Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cancer in 1951, doctors took her cells and grew them in test tubes. Henriettas were different: they reproduced an entire generation every twenty-four hours, and they never stopped.

The immortal life of henrietta lacks part 1